


homecoming

by londer



Series: d20 alphabet 2021 [4]
Category: Dimension 20
Genre: D20Alphabet, F/M, Post-Canon, dale lee has been dead for three years, how exactly do you reintroduce a dead guy to society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 13:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29999733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londer/pseuds/londer
Summary: "Ma!" Sofia bursts through the door to their apartment, and Marie startles away from the sink where she's washing dishes.Day P: post-canon, for the D20 Alphabet
Relationships: Dale Lee/Sofia Lee
Series: d20 alphabet 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189991
Comments: 15
Kudos: 57
Collections: Dimension 20 Alphabet 2021





	homecoming

"Ma!" Sofia bursts through the door to their apartment, and Marie startles away from the sink where she's washing dishes. Her face is split into a huge smile in a way Marie hasn't seen her look in years now. "Come here, I gotta show you something."

She obediently strips off her rubber gloves and hangs the apron on the oven handle. Obviously not quickly enough for her baby, because Sofis is bouncing on her toes impatiently. Sofia grabs her hands and hauls her to the door. "Christ on the cross, Sof, sweetheart," Marie says, tripping over a pair of shoes next to the door. "What, did you get engaged or-"

Dale Lee is standing on their front steps, smiling sheepishly. Complete and alive and looking not a day older than when he died three years ago. He's holding a bouquet of sunflowers, same as he brought her the first time Sofia brought him around to meet her and Tony. 

Marie's stomach goes on a rollercoaster, dropping in fear then soaring in excitement then turning nauseous with confusion. "What in God's name-" she mumbles as Sofia yanks her into a tight hug. 

"I've been wanting to tell you for so  _ long _ ," Sofia gushes. "He wasn't dead, he didn't leave me." 

They had a funeral. There's a headstone in the cemetery and an empty casket. Marie had liked Dale when he was alive. He was kind and handsome, a little boring in her opinion, but he made Sofia happy. Tony hated him, so Marie never could quite voice the kind of approval she knew Sofia would have wanted from her. Marie had cried at the funeral and held Sofia while she wept and she always felt a pang when she dusted the wedding photos hanging around the apartment.

"Witness protection," Dale says, and Marie takes the proffered flowers mostly out of shock. Her heart half stops out of fear for him. She remembers all the awful things she wished on him when she thought he had left her baby and regrets them desperately. "Accidentally did some mob taxes and had to go into hiding while the FBI were busting them. I couldn't tell Sof when I left that's where I was going, but about a year in it got safe enough for me to at least tell her I was okay." 

"We wanted to tell you so badly, Ma," Sofia says. "So you wouldn't have to worry about me so much." 

That gets her, really hard in the gut. "You're my little girl," Marie says, smoothing a hand over her daughter's hair and returning the hug as she blinks back tears. She opens her other arm for Dale to step into as well. "I'll always worry about you." 

  
"Well," Sofia says, pulling back from her a little with a guilty smile. " _ Grandma _ , you're about to have someone else to worry about." 

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr [here](https://myclericalromance.tumblr.com)


End file.
